February 7, 2009
Community Beyond Outreach?
An East Providence school committee member in attendance at the Ed Achorn talk gave me a copy of a flier that's going to homes across the town:
Inside are a few union talking points presented in a "true or false" format, my favorite of which is the following (emphasis in original):
It's the teachers' fault that the district is running a deficit.
FALSE. The district has been mismanaged for years, with annual budget deficits for the last 10 years in a row. The City Council and School Committee have made decisions that have worsened the situation rather than resolved it.
What makes this noteworthy is that the single greatest example of mismanagement has been in giving away too much to the union. In some of their more stumbling rhetoric of recent months, even union officials have tacitly acknowledged this point.
But there's reason for optimism: The back of the pamphlet provides contact information for all of the school committee and town council members, and at least according to the one who gave me the flier, every single response that it has generated was supportive of the school committee, not the union.
One must wonder whether the teachers' union in East Providence, and perhaps elsewhere, has squandered its support among the community at large.
"The City Council and School Committee have made decisions that have worsened the situation rather than resolved it."
Let's go along with the premise for a moment. What should the decisions of the City Council and School Committee have been instead of the ones that they made? What should they have done differently?
You are thinking about this too objectively, Monique. Don't forget these are unions we are talking about.
We all know if the elected officials had done anything substantially different in previous years it would have been to say "NO" to the unions earlier than they did. Either way we end up at the same point - over reaching public employee unions crying that they aren't getting their way.
Let's give them an "A+" for deceit.
Their plan has backfired horribly, and I've been hearing some wonderful stories about their "interactions" with the public -- those who are paying their salaries and benefits, and who are totally taxed-out.
"The district has been mismanaged for years, with annual budget deficits for the last 10 years in a row."
No kidding, morons. That's why we have a problem.
The current city council and school committee have been in office since December 1st, 2008 -- less than 10 weeks now. Blaming the current council and committee for the actions of their predecessors, makes about as much sense as blaming the world champion Boston Red Sox of 2008, for losing the 1986 World Series.
"The City Council and School Committee have made decisions that have worsened the situation rather than resolved it."
In the past, that was absolutely correct. Perhaps it's worse for you, but it's necessary for the whole city. Now there's a new team, and they're focus is on the whole city and its future, not on the select few with connections, with no apparent grasp of basic math.
Both bodies absolutely agree that the actions of the past councils and committees have been to the detriment of everyone. Their past "actions" were to give the teachers and the other municipal unions everything they asked for -- repeatedly -- regardless of our future ability to pay. The future is now.
PS If you think the teachers are mad now, just wait until making payroll becomes an issue. We're a lot closer to that point than one would like to think.
Posted by: Will at February 9, 2009 2:05 AM